


Best-Laid Plans

by peltonea



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fake Marriage, Feelings Realization, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Or Is It?, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29575158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peltonea/pseuds/peltonea
Summary: “We should get married,” Eddie says. He’s so matter-of-fact about it, Buck almost thinks he misheard.“What?” Buck asks.“You and me. We should get married,” Eddie repeats, taking another sip of coffee. "It wouldn't change anything. It would just be for legal paperwork. So if I got hurt, or if Christopher needs something and I can’t get there right away… you get it, right?"“Yeah, yeah, I totally get it, man,” Buck nods, because he totallydoesget it. Anything can happen in this line of work, Eddie has every reason to want a safety net. And Buckdidkinda volunteer himself. “Okay, let’s get married. No big deal.”Or: the fake marriage AU nobody wanted or asked for but got anyway. (S3B AU.)
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 236





	1. the beginning

It starts with a case of beer and an ill-advised movie marathon one night in the new year, after the hectic, hellish calls from the holiday season have started to die down. A chance to relax with a few friends. ('A few' being the operative words: Bobby had politely declined them, already having plans with Athena, Maddie was on Designated Driver duty with her work friends, and Karen had been more interested in spending quality time with Denny than watching Adam Sandler movies with her wife's friends.)

“This movie is terrible,” Buck groans, reaching for a nearby bowl of sweet popcorn with clumsy fingers. It’s empty.

"No, _Chuck and Larry_ is a heartfelt story about friendship and love and…" Chim starts, before bursting into a fit of ugly laughter. "Hah! Who am I kidding? Why are we watching this?" 

"It had firefighters in it," Eddie mumbles, lifting another bottle to his lips. "I don't know. Honestly, I'm kinda impressed. They got almost everything wrong."

"If that life promise thing actually existed, you'd all owe me big time," Buck says, triumphantly. 

There's silence for a moment, every single person present raising their eyebrows at Buck as one. 

"...And I'd owe you guys something crazy every other week," Buck finishes, awkwardly. He gestures at the empty bowl in his hands, rises to his feet. "Um… I'm going to, uh…"

"Make salted popcorn this time," Chim tells him. "And I want hot Doritos."

"You know, I'd tell you to pay us back by not doing dumb stuff, but we all know that would never happen," Hen says, as Buck passes her recliner.

"You guys secretly love it, though," Buck snickers.

"We do," Hen replies. She leans back, eyes on the screen, then sighs. "This is terrible, guys, I'm turning it off. It's so convoluted, none of the plot points make any sense, and it's so off-the-scale offensive it almost circles right back around into being funny again." 

"You think it's funny?" Chim asks. 

"No, I said 'almost'," Hen replies, with a short laugh. "Now, if y'all don't mind, I think it's time for _50 First Dates_." 

Eddie mutters something too quiet to be audible, suddenly looking worried.

"What's up?" Buck asks, pausing at the kitchen door.

"...I need to check my life insurance policy," Eddie murmurs, carefully lowering his beer to the table. 

"What, in case it's like the movie?" Chim asks. 

There's a long pause. Although Sober Eddie has ironclad self control and an excellent poker face, Drunk Eddie most definitely does not.

"No," Drunk Eddie shakes his head slowly, eyes still wide, looking very much like a deer caught in headlights.

"C'mon, don't worry. It'll be fine," Buck insists, slapping Eddie playfully on the shoulder. "And if it's not, you and me can pull a Chuck and Larry. I would make a _great_ fake husband." 

"I knew that movie was a bad decision," Hen mutters, fiddling with the remote control. "See, Chim? It's given them ideas." 

Chim cackles, and even Buck joins in as he heads through to the kitchen. 

"Seriously, Eddie, don't worry," Chim says. "Just sit back and relax. Even if there is a problem, you can't do anything about it until tomorrow. So just drink your beer and enjoy the movies." 

"C'mon, what would Christopher think of you spending your night moping in the corner, worrying?” Hen asks, when Eddie's mood does not immediately improve. The faint sound of popping corn echoes through the doorway.

“I shouldn’t even be drinking,” Eddie mutters, pushing his beer bottle away with a dispirited sigh. “What if Chris needs me?"

“No, no, don’t do that to yourself,” Hen tells him. “We discussed it earlier, remember? If Chris needs you, then either your relatives are going to drive him back here, or one of us can get help. Maddie’s already picking Chim and Buck up later, Karen's happy to help you out if you need it, and Bobby’s just one text away.”

“Chris is having fun with his auntie and grandma, probably being spoiled rotten,” Chim agrees. “All you need to do is cut loose and let yourself enjoy one stress-free night now that the worst time of year is behind us.”

There’s a pause, broken only by a few scattered pops and the loud bleeping of Eddie’s microwave.

"You're right," Eddie nods, after a moment. “The holidays are the worst time of year. Do you remember that old lady earlier?" 

"The one who was heating her house with a gas oven or the one who faked a heart attack to get her daughter-in-law out of her house?" 

"Did someone really do that?" Buck asks, reappearing with two full bowls of popcorn and a bag of Doritos. The Doritos go to Chim and the popcorn to the coffee table. “I mean, call us to kick someone out?”

"Actually, two people did," Hen says. "We also had a son-in-law who hated his husband's parents and wanted out, so he tried to fake an accident and gave himself first-degree burns in the process.”

"You'd think that the cost of healthcare would put people off doing stuff like that," Buck says, flopping back into his seat.

"You'd think," Hen agrees, then holds up the remote. “Everybody ready?"

"Is there a drinking game for this?" Eddie asks. "Maybe every time she forgets?"

"If we do a drinking game, none of us are going to make it through the first half," Hen says. She pauses. "Okay, one drink every time she forgets, one drink every time you cringe at something on-screen."

"One drink every time that song plays," Chim adds. "You know the one."

"No, I don't. I've never seen this movie," Buck says.

"How?" Hen exclaims. "How have you gotten to twenty-nine and never seen _50 First Dates_?"

"Good luck?" Buck says, with a shrug. "Bad luck? You guys pick."

"We'll tell you when to drink," Chim promises.

As the opening sequence begins to play, Buck opens another beer bottle. By the time Maddie stops by to peel him and Chim off Eddie’s couch, the entire evening is nothing more than a pleasant blur. 


	2. the catalyst

January is a strange month to be a firefighter. While they’re still dealing with an above-average number of calls, those calls are generally less dangerous and deadly than December’s calls, involving fewer emotional outbursts. And the calls almost all have one thing in common.

“I was just trying to be more spontaneous!” the girl sobs. “It’s my new year’s resolution!”

“Looks like you succeeded,” Bobby says. “But next time, how about being spontaneous with something a little smaller, like a different kind of coffee?”

“This is so embarrassing,” the girl whimpers. “I can’t believe you had to cut me out of the climbing frame…”

“We’ve seen way worse, don’t worry,” Buck says, cheerfully helping Hen wheel her back to the ambulance.

“You were very lucky,” Hen tells the girl. “It looks like you’ve only got a sprained wrist and ankle, but you’ll probably have a couple x-rays to confirm that. Next time you want to run an endurance course, warm up first and wear sneakers instead of high heels. Got it?”

“Got it,” the girl sniffs, wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Take a deep breath. Let’s get you to the hospital,” Hen says, and she helps Buck load the girl into the ambulance. Chim hops in the driver’s seat. Buck closes the back door behind Hen, then bangs loudly on the window. Within moments, they’re on their way to the emergency room. 

“Some resolution,” Buck mutters. He glances over at Eddie, loading equipment back on the ladder truck. “You got one of those?”

“What?” Eddie asks, shutting the storage panels as Bobby climbs into the driver’s seat. “A chainsaw?”

“No, a resolution. For the new year, you know?”

“Uh… I don’t have one.” 

“What? C’mon, you have to think of one. Mine is to get on the firefighter’s calendar, since Chim ruined my chances last year,” Buck says. 

“Good for you,” Eddie replies, climbing into the truck. "I'm probably going to skip out on applying this year. Don't have a whole lot of free time to prepare."

Buck climbs in, too, closing the door.

“Maybe your resolution could be something less intensive, then. How about learning a new language?”

“I don’t have time for that either,” Eddie says. “Besides, I already speak Spanish.”

“You could do an event, like running a marathon. Or one of those charity challenges, raise some money for a CP organization. Help other kids like Chris.” 

“Much as I’d like to, I really, really don’t have the time.” Eddie pauses. “Unless we arranged something for the whole station, planned it during work hours.”

“That could be good…” Buck agrees. He twists around to face the driver’s cabin. “Hey, Cap, what do you think?”

“I wouldn’t be against something like that,” Bobby says, firing up the engine. “Sounds like it could be a really fun event. What are you thinking? Some kind of contest?”

“Not sure. We’ll have to get back to you on that,” Eddie replies. The truck lurches forward. 

“I’m sure you’ll think of something great,” Bobby says. “But I don’t think that counts as a new year’s resolution. It should be something personal. If it helps, mine is to get better at making waffles.”

“Waffles?” Eddie asks.

“You’re already a god of cooking,” Buck says. “What do you need to practice waffles for?”

“They’re Athena’s favourite food,” Bobby replies. “And while I know I’m good, I also know that I can do better.”

Buck nods. Makes sense.

“Can I be your test subject? Like, you can make me a whole bunch of waffles and I can judge if you’re getting better or not?” Buck asks, hopefully. 

Bobby laughs.

“I’ll think about it,” he says, which is not a straight-up ‘no’, and therefore means at least _some_ waffles will appear in Buck’s near future.

* * *

By the time they reach the station, Eddie’s quiet again, a thoughtful look on his face. Or at least, what passes for a thoughtful look with Eddie: his head slightly tilted, a small furrow forming between his brows. It takes a couple minutes to check the gear on the ladder truck. They just need to switch out a couple batteries on some tools, set the old ones charging. Hen and Chim will take care of the ambulance equipment when they get in. Then there’s little to do but wait for the next call. 

Bobby slides into his office, presumably to tackle some paperwork, so Buck helps himself to some fruit at the dining table to tackle his mid-morning munchies: a couple apples and one of those peely little oranges.  
  
“Maybe a resolution would be a good idea,” Eddie says, settling into the seat opposite Buck, a cup of coffee in hand. He takes a sip. 

“You come up with any good ideas?” Buck asks.

“Maybe,” Eddie says. “I’m thinking I could try to be more organised this year. I mean, I already spent the last couple days going over old paperwork and cleaning the house. Maybe if I keep it up through the year, the next one will be a little easier.”

“Paperwork?” Buck asks. “Like the life insurance thing you were talking about the other day?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says, settling himself at the table. “That.”

“How’d it turn out, anyway?” Buck asks. 

“Shannon’s still the beneficiary,” Eddie says, his expression carefully blank. “There’s no weird time clause, like the movie. As soon as I have someone in mind, I can change it over without a problem.”

“That’s good,” Buck says, but Eddie’s expression doesn’t change. “Uh… is it?”

Eddie doesn’t answer immediately, taking a long sip of coffee instead. He sighs, long and heavy.

“The insurance is do-able,” he says. “Will needs updating, too. Taxes aren’t great, but I was already filing separately from Shannon when I took this job so there's not a huge difference. There’s just a lot of little things, you know?”

Buck nods. He’s not a parent, or divorced, but he knows how daunting all that paper stuff can be. Wading through insurance for his hospital stays alone had been hellish, even with Carla’s help and the LAFD programme’s excellent coverage. 

“The paperwork isn’t even the worst of it all,” Eddie adds, bitterly. “My mom and dad heard about me not being home at Christmas, so they’re back to telling me to get a transfer back to Texas so I can stop ‘neglecting’ Chris.”

“Neglect?” Buck scoffs. “You don’t buy that, right? Anybody with a pair of eyes can see that you’re a great dad.” 

“I try to be,” Eddie says, quietly. “It’s just… single parenting is so much harder than I thought it was going to be. No wonder Shannon was so burned out by the end.”

There’s not much Buck can say to that: he doesn’t know all the details, just that Eddie’s deployments hadn’t lent themselves well to Eddie being a present father figure, and that’d been how the problems with Shannon started. 

The silence stretches on, awkward and heavy.

“If there’s anything I can do, you know you just have to ask, right?” Buck asks. “I’m not _just_ saying it, either. You know I like helping you out and taking care of Chris.”

Eddie’s gaze shifts from the coffee in front of him to Buck. Something in his expression changes, his eyebrows shifting upward oh-so-slightly. He leans back in his chair, more relaxed now than a moment ago. 

“Actually, I think there _is_ something that’d help.”

“What is it?”

“We should get married,” Eddie says. He’s so matter-of-fact about it, Buck almost thinks he misheard.

“What?” Buck asks.

“You and me. We should get married,” Eddie repeats, taking another sip of coffee. "It wouldn't change anything. It would just be for legal paperwork. So if I got hurt, or if Christopher needs something and I can’t get there right away… you get it, right?

“Yeah, yeah, I totally get it, man,” Buck nods, because he totally does get it. Anything can happen in this line of work, Eddie has every reason to want a safety net. And Buck did kinda volunteer himself. “Okay, let’s get married. No big deal.”

“You sure?” Eddie looks surprised. “I mean, I know I’m asking a lot here.”

“No, you’re not,” Buck says.

He might’ve been tipsy at the time, but he _does_ remember offering his services as a fake husband a couple nights back. It had been intended a joke rather than a serious solution to Eddie’s problems, and the whole idea is a little weird, but it makes sense.

“You just mean signing some papers and babysitting, right? That’s fine with me. I love taking care of Chris.”

“I know, I know, but it's more than that. What if I didn’t make it home?” Eddie asks, wrinkling his brow. “Parenting isn’t exactly a cakewalk.”

“It's hard,” Buck agrees, and there’s silence for a moment. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. I won’t let it.”

“But if it _did._ ”

“I’d step up for Chris with or without a piece of paper,” Buck replies. “Your family is great, you know I love your aunt Josephina and your abuela. But they’re both getting old and they can’t look after a kid full-time. If getting fake-married means he won’t go into foster care in the worst-case scenario, I’m all for it.”

“I'm glad,” Eddie says, and he looks distinctly relieved. “You got any ID on you?”

“Yeah, my driver’s license is in my wallet.”

“Good. I just need to get a couple documents from home. We can go get the marriage license this afternoon, get booked in for a civil ceremony whenever they’re available. And that’s it. Neither of us even have to change our names.”

“That sounds easy.”

“It is,” Eddie agrees. “California doesn’t have a waiting period, like Texas. Good thing for us— the sooner it’s done, the sooner we can forget about it.”

“Wait, did you research this?” Buck asks. 

“When Shannon asked for a divorce, I read up on California marriage law,” Eddie shrugs. “Gonna be honest, it didn’t help me a lot.”

“Sorry to hear that, man,” Buck grimaces. 

“It was my own fault. Too little, too late.” Eddie shrugs. “Anyway, thanks for agreeing. You have no idea how much this helps me.”

“Don’t mention it,” Buck says. “Seriously, anything else you can think of, let me know.”

“I will.” 

Buck holds out a fist, and Eddie obliges him with a bump. The sound of an engine echoes through the fire house: presumably Hen and Chim returning.

“Hey, you wanna play _First Responders_?" Buck asks, jerking a thumb at the TV. "Hen said it just updated with a new race mode, and I'm trying to train so I can beat her. I keep killing civilians on accident."

“I hope you mean in the game,” Eddie snickers. "Sure, why not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, I did not expect this level of positive reception! I normally write for small video game fandoms, so I was not expecting anywhere near the level of kind words and kudos y'all were so kind as to give me. Thank you all so much! 
> 
> I'll keep updating as quickly as I can. I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'd guess between eight and twelve chapters.
> 
> (one final disclaimer: i am not a first responder and am in no way affiliated with healthcare, rescue, or law enforcement. i don't know a goddamn thing about any of this, i'm flying by the seat of my pants with the help of Professor Google)

**Author's Note:**

> 1) I’m not American and all I know about California is stuff from movies. Any spelling or dialect mistakes are due to that. 
> 
> 2) I’ve only been watching 9-1-1 for about a week, so please excuse any lapses in characterisation or... well. Basically any problems in timeline. This is written pretty much entirely for fun.
> 
> 3) This takes place directly after 3.10, and will very generally follow the remainder of the season.


End file.
